The Flickr Tools Image Generatr

One of my husbands tools

This picture is of three family heirloom tools with a bit of history to them.

Whilst recently cleaning out my father’s shed I found the spanner on the left of the picture. I have happy memories of this spanner as, due to its unique design, its jaws open a whopping 26mm. In comparison, a more conventional adjustable spanner of the same length only opens 14mm. This different design, coupled with youthful enthusiasm, allowed me to attempt to undo fasteners well beyond the capacity of the device or any other tool in my father’s very limited collection of tools. A lack of tools was always a frustration for me, something that I have probably overcompensated for ever since.

While still in primary school & armed with this spanner, I would cannibalise parts off old dumped cars in local paddocks. To overcome the minor issue that the spanner was only 4 inches long, I put a length of tube over the handle to greatly increase the leverage. Even with my limited strength, I managed to considerably bend the adjustable jaw of the spanner. This was still the condition in which I found it in Dad’s shed and therefore it seems unlikely to have been used since those days.

I have since repaired the damage as it is now shown in the picture. On searching antique tool collectors forums, it appears that, at the time of this spanner’s design, they were often incorporated into the little tool kits you get with a new car or motor bike. It seems likely that the spanner came with my father’s BSA Bantam motor bike that he bought in the 1950s and was the only motorised transportation my parents had when they married.

The middle bicycle box spanner was given to me when I started bike racing at 13 years of age. The spanner had belonged to my father’s older brother and was most likely used to tighten the wheels on his bike that he used to ride in the Austral Wheelrace in 1938.

The third tool in the picture is a pair of pliers that my maternal grandmother gave to me when I first started playing around with electronics during my primary school years. The pliers measure only 110mm from top to bottom which is small and not a general use tool. My Grandmother told me at the time that the pliers had belonged to her brother Percy and that he had brought them back from WWI. An interesting fact is that the pliers were manufactured by a company called P.L. Schmidt founded in Germany in 1790. According to correspondence with the present day company, these pliers could have been manufactured between 1900 and 1943. This clearly covers the time of WWI but how they came to be in the ownership of an Australian veteran is unknown.

I had a really busy work day today. Meanwhile, Tim had an equally busy (and tiring) day reorganising everything in our very jam-packed utility room. It's so neat and tidy now!

😜😋😵💫😬😎😇🎵 🎵🎃

Age Restricted Due to Insanity

A majestic gum tree graces an otherwise bleak landscape in the western suburbs of Melbourne, Australia.


One of several projects, that explore photography as evidence amongst other ideas.Blog | Tumblr | Website | pixelfed.au | Instagram | Photography links | my Ko-fi shop | Off Ya Trolley! | s2z digital garden | vero | Dpreview albums | my work archived on trove at the National Library of Australia. |

Using the little 102 block plane that used to belong to my grandfather. There are no maker's marks or any other markings, just the number 102 on the baseplate near the back. I've cleaned up the sole and sharpened the blade but no more than that.

Using the little 102 block plane that used to belong to my grandfather. There are no maker's marks or any other markings, just the number 102 on the baseplate near the back. I've cleaned up the sole and sharpened the blade but no more than that.